Antonio Conte suggests Frank de Boer sacking was 'emotional' response by Crystal Palace

Vaishali Bhardwaj11 September 2017

Antonio Conte admitted he was sorry to hear about Frank de Boer's sacking from Crystal Palace, labelling the decision a "pity", but suggested it was an emotional response by the club.

Palace relieved De Boer of his position as coach of the Eagles after a 77-day reign in which the 47-year-old failed to lead the club to a win in four Premier League matches.

The news came just hours before Conte spoke to the media to preview Chelsea's Champions League game against Qarabag, and the Italian admitted he was "sorry" for De Boer but said managers must be judged on their work every day in training rather than just on results during matches.

Speaking to reporters at Cobham, Conte said: "I'm sorry for him.

"When you start to work, you try to ask for a bit of time for your work. I'm sorry for him because to be a coach in the league is a great experience and to finish this experience after only four games I'm sorry for him.

"It's a pity. It's always very difficult to speak about the situations of other teams. I'm sorry for the man.

"We know very well our job is this.

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"One game you win, you are on top, another game you lose and you are the worst coach. This is normal, not only in England, in the whole world.

"I think it's important to have always the right balance in the judge. I think every club must judge the work of the coach and sometimes there is a bit of emotion and you take decisions very strong following an emotional moment.

"I think every coach must be judged during the week, during every day, during the work to understand if they are doing very well, doing not very well."